In the evening, in the capital's palace, in one of the lavish guest rooms…

Will is sitting at a desk, reading a thick, leather-bound tome. His wooden staff rests propped up against a wall nearby, and his backpack sits on the floor at the bed's foot-end. Intensely focused on the book's contents, he adjusts his glasses before flipping another page.

Knock knock.

Two quiet, but decisive knocks on his door briefly draw Will's attention to it.

「Enter!」

He exclaims towards the door, and turns his attention back to the book. The door opens, and closes.

「How are you feeling, Will?」

「Lian!?-」

Almost throwing his glasses off of his face, Will's head snaps to Lian while she's leaning on his door, with her head gently cocked to the side.

「Have I come at a bad time?」

She asks, slowly approaching his desk with a smug smirk on her face, without waiting for his reply. Will fumbles with his book in panic, partially shutting it and mixing the pages up.

「Oh my. Is that one of those adult books I've heard about some time back?」

Lian comments, smiling at Will as her almond-shaped eyes look at the thick tome in his hands.

「N-No! It's my magic book… And I'm feeling fine. Don't listen to Alicia exaggerate.」

Will says, and returns the book from his lap back onto the desk, opening it once more. He flips through the pages rapidly, searching for the one last read.

「…I thought it was Alicia. Or Greaves, coming to pester me about something again.」

He adds, quickly adjusting his glasses while Lian stands next to the desk, looking at the book's contents.

As he flips through the pages, multitudes of runes and pages-long explanations zoom by, page by page, prefaced by bold-texted chapter titles.

「Well, sorry to pester you for a change…」

Lian replies, tilting her head with a smug smile.

「You're not pestering me, don't be ridiculous, Lian.」

Will adjusts his glasses, and lowers his face into his book, hiding in the pages.

「Is that so?… I see. So, what are you reading?」

Lian asks, partially sitting on Will's desk, despite the extra chair being free and available right next to him.

「It's my old magic book… The worst mages are the ones, who are convinced that they have learned everything that there is to know. So, I'm going through the basics again…」

He replies, and arrives at the page he was reading before she entered. Looking at the book, Will's eyes steal quick glances of Lian's lean, athletic, body-suited leg as she leans against the desk.

「Hmmm… Humble. Are magic books all you read?」

Lian humms and asks, tilting her head a little further. Her silken, black ponytail slides off her shoulder.

「Hm? No…」

Lian's question catches Will off guard, and he glances at her smug face looking down at him.

「…Admittedly, I do read some time-wasters from time to time. But ever since we properly got into adventuring with Greaves, I'm stuck learning magic. No time to waste.」

Will replies, gently shrugging his shoulders before his eyes return to the text in the book.

「I see… What kind of time-wasters do you enjoy? Maybe when we're out traveling, I'll find a copy to read through of something you liked.」

She says, leaning a little more onto the desk, tilting her head further as she places her hand very close to Will's tome.

「Actually…」

Will adjusts his glasses, and slides his chair out of the desk, standing up. He then walks up to his backpack, and digs around searching for something within it.

「…I've finished this recently. Shortly before we met you, actually. I liked this one, it's a mystery story.」

He pulls a small book out, and walks back to his chair, handing it to Lian as he sits back down.

「What's it about?」

She asks, and her eyes skim through the first pages. While decently thick, the book is merely palm-sized at best, and the contents are written in a small script.

「A mystery solver and his partner are invited to a magnate's mansion, and they discover that he has been murdered the moment they arrive. It's a classic locked-room mystery.」

Will gives Lian a quick, spoiler-free synopsis, and adjusts his glasses.

Clap!

With a noise strongly resembling a singular clap of hands, Lian slams the book shut in her hand, and smirks at Will.

「I see. Sounds interesting…」

Lian remarks, and they look each other in the eyes for a brief moment, before Will's eyes escape to his tome.

「Uh… Lian, don't take offense at me asking, but… Can you even read our language?」

He meekly asks, adjusting his glasses again before apologetically looking up at her face to gauge her reaction. Her face appears very mildly surprised, perhaps a little confused. She returns a few silent blinks.

「Of course. I've had plenty of time to learn in my search for that lovely idiot. Had to, even. And we've been taught a little, back home.」

Lian replies, and hops off Will's desk, slowly making her way to the door with a leisurely step.

「I'll give it a read, since we have nothing better to do until tomorrow at least. I'll return it when I'm done.」

She adds, smugly smiling at him over her shoulder as her black ponytails slides over it.

「No, it's okay, you can keep it.」

「…I see.」

She pauses her slow walk, looking at Will in silence for a brief moment, before she replies with a little tilt of her head.

「By the way, how is your physical training, Will? Did you stop because of your injuries?」

Lian asks, holding onto the door without opening it in an attempt to stretch her departure to its utmost.

「No, I'm still training every day-」

「That's not good, you should allow your body to rest, Will.」

Still looking at him over her shoulder, Lian gently tilts her head and looks at Will with her brows raised, gently chiding him.

「Ah, I am. I'm mostly training my legs now, since trying to do push-ups hurts my side a little.」

Will adjusts his glasses, and sticks his other palm out towards Lian as he explains himself.

「Hmh. You're not going to stop even if I tell you to, are you? Dedication is good, Will, if you're strong, nobody can take your body from you…」

She lets out an amused scoff, and opens the door.

「…But remember it's not indestructible, and the one who can destroy it the easiest is you.」

Lian adds, gently smiling at Will with her eyes lightly narrowed, and a hint of her usual smugness on her face. She begins pulling the door shut, but stops when Will abruptly calls out.

「Ah! Lian, wait!」

He adjusts his glasses, stretching his hand out towards Lian and the door. Inquisitively tilting her head, she pushes the door ajar, leaning onto the frame with her arm.

「…They taught you our language? Aren't your people… You know… Hostile, to us?」

Will adjusts his glasses again, and meekly asks, looking at Lian from under his raised brows and above his permanently slipping glasses.

「Yes. I wouldn't say we are at war, because that concept is very distant to us… But hostile is an apt word.」

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She smiles softly, although her face remains smug.

「Right. So why learn someone's language in that case? It would make sense for diplomats, not warriors.」

Will asks, furrowing his brows.

「Why, to read road signs of course. And to take inventory.」

Lian replies, still smugly smiling at Will. He straightens out of his timid slouch, appearing enlightened.

「…That makes sense- Wait, inventory of what?」

Will nods while looking at the ground, but then his brows furrow. His eyes snap back to Lian, and he adjusts his glasses as he asks.

「People, Will.」

Lian nonchalantly answers with a smug smile, and steps out of the room once more.

「…Though I have to admit, as a woman, knowing how to read your language is not that useful. Perhaps not anymore. Don't stay up late, Will.」

She adds with a resigned shrug of her shoulders, and cautions Will as she softly closes the door.

He blinks at the closed door, frozen, unnerved and bewildered. After a few moments, he finally unfreezes.

「…As a woman?」

Will repeats, as he adjusts his glasses with his brows greatly furrowed…

…

In the meantime, in the brazier-lit warehouse filled with noise…

Straf throws the lever upward, and the giant drake printer slowly but surely grinds to a halt. The paper roll's heavy spin slows, and then stops completely.

He approaches the output crate, and the machine spits out the last of the drake bundles. He throws the whole crate, drakes and all into [Portable Storage] as it opens next to him, and places his hands in his pockets with a large sigh.

「…The bank's probably closed at this hour. Man, what a bother.」

He glances up and aside at nothing in particular as he thinks, and grumbles quietly to himself. He shrugs, and heads for the exit.

「Tsk. Whatever. I'll just deliver them before we leave.」

Straf clicks his tongue while shaking his head, and walks outside. The sun is low and slowly setting, but it's not quite dark yet.

Regardless, the streets are completely empty. Not a single soul remains. The magic lamps fight a losing battle against the dark, burning away the creeping shadows. A faint blue hue paints the buildings' walls as Straf passes the lamps.

「Man… Running a country isn't all that's it cracked up to be. Everyone's like, crop rotations! Genius trade deals! Political backstabbing! Great war campaigns!…」

With his hands in his pockets and grumbling, Straf walks the dark streets of the warehouse district and takes a turn towards the palace street. Too bright for vampires, and too dark for humans, Straf's path is devoid of both.

「…Crop rotations? The people here are stupid, but they're not that stupid. How could an agrarian society survive without knowing that?…」

He thinks out loud, and takes another turn, getting closer to the wide and well-lit central street. The disrepair in the surrounding buildings appears to be reversely proportionate to their proximity to the palace, and its road.

「…Genius trade deals? I had to import the biggest scam in the history of humanity just to keep the lights on in this shithole…」

Straf scoffs, and glances at one of the magic lamps as he passes by.

「…Literally.」

He remarks with his mouth aslant, and takes another turn.

「…Political backstabbing? That was done before I even got here! You can't just do all the backstabbing off-screen! What's up with that!?」

His grumbling intensifies as he looks aside into the dark, empty alleyways between the rotting buildings. He clicks his tongue and sucks the air through his teeth, before taking another turn. The main street comes into view.

「Great war campaigns!? Where!? It's not a great war campaign if I kill some nobody, and his army backs out! The only country we've invaded was ourselves! In self-defense!」

Straf exclaims at the darkening sky, throwing his head back in frustration, and lets out an exasperated sigh. He stops in the center of the palace street, looking down the winding cobblestone road snaking amidst the buildings.

「…Managing stuff sucks. Responsibilities aren't fun. The moment you show someone you're dependable, you'll be stuck with being relied upon. It doesn't matter if the responsibilities are not real. They're the worst…」

With a fatigued, and perhaps a little bored face, Straf stares at the ominous, blood-red moon hanging above the street. Though it's not quite nighttime yet, the moon does not care.

「…Man, MMOs are just not for me-」

「Indeed, if responsibilities were a pleasure, then they would not be the concern of kings.」

Lily says, and her boots clack against the cobblestones, loud enough to interrupt Straf. The silence amplifies the hollow echoes.

「Lily. Somehow, I expected I'd see you, but not here and not at this time.」

Straf scoffs as he turns around, grinning at her with his hands in his pockets.

「And I was hoping to meet you here. The time couldn't be better, too.」

She replies, uncannily close to him for how little noise she made to get there. With a serious expression on her face, Lily's glowing scarlet eyes look straight into Straf's.

「Really? What's up? Overworking yourself again?…」

Straf asks, grinning and amused.

「Hehehe… Me too. Had to print a shitton of money for tomorrow.」

He casually adds with a shrug, after a short chuckle.

「You are leaving tomorrow, correct?」

Lily asks, gently tilting her head. She continues staring into Straf's eyes.

「Yeah, that's the plan.」

Straf shrugs, and nods his head a little with a smirk on his face.

「…For two months?」

「Yup.」

He nods again, and shrugs once more. The two maintain eye contact in an oddly prolonged silence.

「I see…」

But Lily breaks the silence, only to quietly remark and fall silent again. With her golden head lowered, she looks at the cobblestones separating her, and Straf.

「Straf…」

Her glowing eyes rise up to meet Straf's bored gaze.

「…Turn into a vampire.」

Lily commands, glaring at Straf. He lets out a large, fatigued sigh, and his lips press against each other, narrowing into thin lines.

「Lily… Seriously. I'm not going to turn into a vampire, stop asking.」

Straf replies, looking at her with a frustrated and tired face. Lily stomps up to him in wide steps, as wide as her small frame will allow her, still glaring into his eyes. He furrows his brows and tilts his head at her reaction, but doesn't do anything else.

She closes in and spreads her arms. While his hands are still in his pockets, Lily then tightly wraps them around Straf's waist and his arms, sinking her face into his chest. A little confused, Straf's brows rise.

《Aww, for how annoying she is, that's actually kind of endearing.》

Straf thinks, looking down at Lily's golden head below as his mouth scrunches into a smirk. He lets out a pitying sigh.

「…I'm sorry, Straf. But I also know that you can take this…」

Just as Straf opens his mouth, Lily quietly mumbles an apology into his chest. Confused, he tilts his head.

「Wha-?」

Before he can finish his sentence, a violent force lifts him off his feet and propels his face towards the cobblestones behind Lily. He feels the familiar sensation, and time appears to slow down to a crawl.

《What the fuck!? What is going on-?》

Straf's eyes look down at Lily.

《Oh. Figures.》

He thinks, as he realizes Lily is suplexing him. Despite her diminutive size, the speed at which his head is accelerating towards the ground is neck-breaking.

《This is crazy fast. Is she actually trying to fucking kill-!? No, she wouldn't do that… Still, I don't have much time to do something about this…》

With a tight-lipped grimace, Straf eyes the cobblestones quickly closing in on him. Despite the effects of [Contextual Time Perception], Straf has only a few seconds more to act.

《Okay! I need to do something!… But…》

Straf glances at Lily again. Her fangs are bared, and she is looking back at him with a focused teeth-clenched scowl. Her crimson, vertically-slit eyes glow like flares.

《…If I do do something, I'll have to rip Lily's arms apart.》

With a troubled, tight-lipped grimace, his eyes drift down to her arms wrapped around him. While not holding him particularly tight, any real-time movement with the speeds involved would pulp most things.

《Man, are these seriously my only two options?…》

With his mouth heavily slanted and scrunched to the side, he lets out a long sigh out of his nose.

Thwack!!…